Once More, With Feeling
by LixxyChan
Summary: Hermione loves, and loves again. Entries for the 'Three Loves Challenge' - Charlie/Hermione. Also has Ron/Hermione, Ernie/Hermione and Blaise/Hermione.
1. A Run with Ronald

This story is for the 'Three Loves Challenge'. My main is Hermione, and this chapter is Ron/Hermione.

* * *

Hermione was in love with Ron. She could admit they had been dancing around each for a long time- with the jealousy over Lavender and Viktor, the flirty glances between them in year six, and the constant worry during the war.

But now they were finally together and it was great! They already had their friendship between them, years of trusting each other and years of yearning for each other to hold them together.

They were back at Hogwarts, and nothing could come between them.

Or so she thought.

They had started arguing- about everything. Ron's terrible habits itched at her nerves; his disgusting table manners, his disregard for real society issues, his terrible prejudice against things like Slytherins. And she irritated him too; her need for cleanliness, her staunch way of disagreeing with his prejudice, her excessive reading.

It was getting worse and worse as time passed. Ron started spending less and less time around her, and she slowly sank further and further into her school work.

Their arguments came to an all-time peak after one particularly stressful day where Ron had a very bad Quidditch match, and Hermione had spent three hours on an essay for which the references were all biased and terribly written.

They had screamed at each other in the Great Hall, surrounded by worried friends and nosy acquaintances, and it ended with them fleeing in opposite directions in anger.

After hours of sobbing into Harry's shoulder she went to find him and apologise, only to find him with someone else- or should she say _in someone else_. Someone who turned out to be Lavender Brown who still had a crush on him, and was perfectly happy to ignore his relationship to get what she wanted.

Their break up in the end was quiet and filled with tears on both sides.


	2. Earning Time with Ernie

Ernie/Hermione.

* * *

She found the first love note in her Potions book, two months after her break up with Ron. It was sweetly written, and spoke of longing from afar and admiring her courage and smarts.

The second note was found in her Charms book one week later, and was equally as delightful as the first. It spoke of desire to know her, to talk with her more on the topics she had brought up in class. It delicately touched upon the writer's wish to make her feel special and treasured.

The kind and loving words spread a warmth through her that she hadn't felt since the beginning of her relationship with Ron, and her curiosity about the writer grew.

The third note was delivered in person, and she was shocked to discover the giver. Ernie Macmillan stood earnestly before her, hope in his eyes as he passed her the folded parchment. She gently took it, and glanced curiously up into his eyes before carefully prising off the wax seal.

_Will you go on a date with me?_

The neat script she had become familiar with over the last two weeks peered up at her. Of all the people she had expected, Ernie Macmillan had not been one of them.

She wasn't displeased, she realised. Ernie was polite, and sweet and didn't appear to share the same disgusting habits that put her off Ron so much.

She accepted, and their first date went splendidly. As did their second, and their third, and they stopped counting and started spending more and more time together. They were both intelligent and hardworking, and neither minded the other spending extra time in the library.

Weeks turned into months, and while they stayed together she soon found that their relationship had become stagnant. They enjoyed each other's company, and cared for each other greatly, but the initial spark which had made their relationship interesting faded away.

Hermione gently explained this to him, and they broke up on good terms. Still, she went to Harry crying when it was all over, bemoaning her inability to find someone she could stay with.


	3. Blazing with Blaise

Blaise/Hermione.

* * *

Winter turned into spring, and Hermione focused on the upcoming exams instead of her lack of love life.

Though she didn't know it at the time, Hermione had caught the eye of one particular Slytherin. Dark eyes had followed her from across the Great Hall as she ate her meals and bantered with her friends.

The interested gaze had started seeking out her slim form in more places; whilst she did her studying in the library, as she sorted her ingredients in Potions, and when she focused on her Charms work in class. The longer the eyes watched, the more intrigued the owner became.

The bushy-haired prefect was astonished when she was approached by Blaise Zabini; Slytherin's heart throb. He was tall, dark and mysterious; everything Hermione had never thought to think about.

Although he wasn't ever-present like Ron had been, and he wasn't sweet like Ernie had been, Blaise slowly managed to integrate himself in to her every day routine. He started turning up at her study sessions with rare books from his personal library to pique her interest, and appearing beside her in the corridors to pull her into thoughtful debates.

Intelligent and secretive, Blaise managed to gain himself a spot in her life as he captured her attention with his riddles and mysteries. He put her brain to the test, and seemed ever pleased as she figured out answers at a speedy pace.

When Blaise brought Hermione flowers for the first time, she looked in confusion between the beautiful lilies and the stoic boy for several minutes whilst she tried to figure out where this fit into their unusual friendship. A dark eyebrow raised after a long moment of silence, and then he calmly explained he would like to take her out on a date. Although stunned at this new turn of events, Hermione accepted.

Their love was a short and bright flame; secret meetings in odd places, passionate intellectual discussions and blazing arguments about the way their world was run.

When Blaise ended it, Hermione was not devastated but felt bereft. She explained to Harry over a bottle of rum that she couldn't work out this love thing, it never seemed to last. She resolved to leave it alone- she was tired of trying. A good, long break from men sounded like what she needed.


	4. Charming Charlie

Charile/Hermione.

* * *

Hermione has well and truly given up on men.

School has finally finished, and she has long since decided to calm her life right down after the war; helping George out in Weasley Wizard's Wheezes instead of heading into Law or the Ministry like the whole world expected of her.

She is quite content with the way her life is turning out, despite the lack of a steady significant other. Staying at the Burrow, she is truly enjoying learning all the magical house-keeping and odd charms that Molly has been teaching her in her free time. Her job with George is fun and relaxing, something she hasn't felt for years due to exams and the war, and she doesn't need to worry about feeling insecure about a boyfriend or lover.

Charlie returns from Romania to be with his broken family, and in the quiet hours of the morning when she is woken by nightmares of the dead, he refills her chamomile tea and they share soft confessions of terror.

As days pass they grow closer and Hermione finds a quiet companionship like none she has had before. She enjoys Charlie's charming confidence and his obsessive love of animals. One Sunday, they go to a magical zoo and he shares his extensive knowledge with her as she rants on the injustice done to animals in captivity.

She tells herself that it is not love; that she has fallen into that trap before, and it has only led to pain. When Molly comments obliviously on their growing closeness, Hermione takes an emotional step back. She stops seeking him out in the day and appearing downstairs when she screams herself awake at night, and as the dreams start to happen more frequently she starts sleeping less and less.

Despite the worried glances that are thrown at her across breakfast every morning, Hermione is determined to not let herself fall again.

When it doesn't appear to be making a difference, and her eyes still follow Charlie when she knows he can't see her, she moves out of the Burrow.

She has sworn to herself that she would have nothing to do with men for a long time, and she would not bend at the first sign of hope. She will not let herself crumble and break apart. She will focus on her job and her friends, and she will forget this momentary lapse. For a week she tosses and turns in the brief moments she spends attempting to sleep at night, and spends her free time staring into books that she can't concentrate on enough to read.

The week passed, and Charlie shows up at her door. His broad shoulders droop like heavy weights are pulling on his arms, and the dark shadows under his eyes speak of nights with no sleep.

Brown eyes stare into blue, trying to not give in to the temptation that would cause her will to bend and break.

She fails.

When they announce they are dating, they both look content. The dark circles are gone, and the weariness which has pulled at their features is replaced by happiness. Hermione's cheeks glow as she peers over a glass of red wine at the ginger man, and she eyes him as he enthusiastically speaks of the animals he works with in a local reserve.

Their marriage is beautiful, and their children even more so. As she holds the hand of her husband and looks down at her new grandchildren, she knows that giving in to this wonderful man was the best decision of her life.


End file.
